Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126425
nase right down to the wire. to be • tfles into the one-two positions, displacing Reid and Handy. By lap five the front three were spreading out and Barnett put a move on Handy for fourth. Glover was back to seventh and closing on Chappy Blose and his factory Kawasaki. The positions were becoming stable - Myerscough, Ward, Reid, Barnett .and Glover with a bunch of track between. Then in lap 14, Barnett had dropped back, still holding fourth. "I had problems in the first moto with my front brake locking up. Jtwas hard going fast over the camel jumps when it did that," Barnett said. The moto finished in that order with a very elated Myerscough heading to the pits. LOP's Steve Stackable (61. shown here racing Denny Swartz 1111. put in an excellent ride to take fourth overall in the 500cc class behind teammate Marty Moates. "I stayed relaxed until the end, and spread out my lead. I feel real good about winning - I'm usually second or third," Myerscough grinned. A Warren ReidlBrian Myerscough/ Brne Glover/Ron Turner/Mark Barnett cluster came off the line and down the chute first in moto two. By lap two Glover had taken Myerscough on a downhill turn and pushed past Reid. Barnett hooked in front of Turner by lap three with Honda's Jim Gibson and Jeff Ward giving chase. During the next few laps Myerscough passed Reid, Ward winged. by Turner, and Gibson dropped back. Barnett was closing the gap in a fast way and before long had compressed the front running pack of Glover, Myerscough and Reid. Around lap 13 Barnett snapped past Myerscough after zapping Reid and also inherited first as Glover was nowhere to be seen when the grou p came around. In only 'a few seconds. Glover re-appeared with a tell-tale clay stain on his left shoulder in fifth place. Reid had gotten ahead of Myerscough after Myerscough came up with what seemed to be an electrical problem, grabbing his kill switch and receiying a jolt in front of the mechanic's area. Ward had dropped out and was down for four laps. Glover moved into a careful third by the white flag and Gibson took advantage of Myerscough's motor problems. The finishing order was Barnett, Reid, Glover, Gibson and Turner. Myerscough placed seventh behind Moto-X Fox's Donny Cantaloupi. Overalls went to Barnett, Reid, Myerscough and Glover. 500cc National Suzuki's Danny LaPorte grabbed the moto one holeshot with Mike Bell, Denny Swartz, Gary Semics and Yamaha/Keystone MX Works' Mickey Kessler in tow. Chuck Sun fared poorly on the start and never made up the distance to score a high place finish. LaPorte and Bell staged their own battle, pulling away and never being contested by others the rest of the race. Kessler shot ahead of Semics and headed out after Swartz. Marty Moates and local star Tony Summey also diced past Semics by lap nine. Moates soon dropped back a few places and recovered to pester Kessler. Swartz dropped out of contention in . lap 14. and from then on in two minimotos set up - the LaPorte/Bell battle and the Moates, Kessler clash. The same situation came upon both duets at the finish, that of dealing with lapped riders through three final turns. LaPorte and Bell were tight and both bounced their way past two lappers with a LaPorte edging out a IO-foot lead to the checkers. The pair had been gaining three seconds per lap on the field! Bell felt his opportunities to pass were few_ "The track's so narrow there's no place to pass. You could see I couldn't get past the lappers. Imagine what it would be like to try and pass the leader," Bell stated. Moates and Kessler played exactly the same game - having to pass two lapped riders in the last turns. Moates went wide and outside towards the flag but still beat Kessler to the checkers. "The lapped riders had nothing to do' with Moates and me at the end," Kessler said. "The track was one line in too many places, but we all have to race it." Maico rider Sam Dayton took the moto two lead with Bell, LaPorte, Chuck Sun and Jim Ellis chasing. Dayton soon 'dropped to fourth and Gary Semics and Steve Stackable got ahead of Ellis. Stackable got Semics 7